[f. as prec. + -IST. Cf. F. littéraliste.] One who insists upon the literal sense of a text or statement. Also, in art or literature, one who depicts or describes objects exactly as they are; an exact copyist.
1644. Milton, Divorce, II. xx. 72. Let the extreme literalist sit down now, and revolve whether this in all necessity be not the due result of our Saviours words.
1685. H. More, Paralip. Prophet., xl. 348. The Objector has rather acted the part of a Literalist.
1827. G. S. Faber, Sacr. Calend. Prophecy (1844), III. 321.
1866. Contemp. Rev., II. 548. The merely descriptive writer, the literalist, though he write in verse, is not a poet at all.
1873. M. Arnold, Lit. & Dogma (1876), 139. The veriest literalist will cry out: Everyone knows that this is not to be taken literally!
